Stretchable Jewelry and Method of Manufacturing the Same

A stretchable jewelry 1 comprising:

• a plurality of sockets 2 configured for holding a gemstone 6 and assembled with each other allowing controlled sliding movement of one socket 2 relative to other forming a tubular passage 11 in an assembled condition;
• an elastic wire 3 passing through the tubular passage 11 for supporting the plurality of sockets 2;
• screws 4 rigidly attached to each end 5 of the elastic wire 3 for forming a closed ring shape by LASER welding the screws 4;
• and
• pins 12 inserted into each socket 2 for assembling the sockets 2 with each other restricting their relative sliding movement and preventing their disassembly on breakage of the elastic wire 3;
• characterized in that
• each said socket 2 comprises:
• a U-shaped hollow body 13 with proximal and distal end walls 14, 18 positioned parallel to each other, closing the U-shaped hollow body 13 from its proximal and distal ends 15,19;
• a projection 20 extending laterally outward from the distal end wall 19 along an axis 17, having:
• a through hole 22 for passing the elastic wire 3, a horizontal flat plane 23 preventing relative rotation of the assembled sockets 2 with respect to each other and, a blind slot 25 on the horizontal flat plane 23 starting from the distal end wall 19 and extending partially along the projection 20;
• a receptor hole 16 on the proximal end wall 14 with a shape corresponding to the projection 20;
• a top wall 26 partially closing the U-shaped hollow body 13 from top and designed to hold and secure the gemstone 6 using a central opening 27 and the claws 28 concealing the internal hollow structure, including the pin 12, and the elastic wire 3;
• a through vertical hole 29 on the proximal end wall 14 extending from the top wall 26 to the receptor hole 16 for inserting the pin 12;
• the top wall 26 is configured such that fixing of the gemstone 6 using the plurality of claws 28 to the socket 2 completely hide the internal hollow construction of the socket 2 including the through vertical hole 29, the pin 12 and the elastic wire 3;
• one end 31 of the pin 12 inserted into the through hole 29 of the socket 2 is projected out of a surface 32 of the receptor hole 16 and remains within the blind slot 25 of the projection 20 of the adjacent socket 2 without touching surfaces of the blind slot 25 and other end 33 of the pin 12 remaining in a horizontal plane of the top wall 26 is brazed to the top wall 26;
• the socket 2 is assembled with the adjacent socket 2 by inserting the projection 20 into the receptor hole 16 of the adjacent socket 2 and inserting the pin 12 into the through vertical hole 29 of the adjacent socket 2 to engage with the blind slot 25 of the socket 2;
• a length 45 of the projection 20 extending from the distal end 19 of the U-shaped hollow body 13 is configured such that it doesn't touches the distal end wall 18 of the adjacent socket 2 in any state in assembled condition;
• a wire diameter d, a helical spring outer diameter D and a pitch P of the elastic wire 3 formed as a circular cylindrical helical spring are maintained to achieve a stiffness of the elastic wire 3 that balances comfort and functionality;
• the screws 4 have heads with diameters Do smaller than the through hole 22 of the projection 20;
• and
• fixing of the gemstone 6 in the plurality of sockets 2 in an assembled condition completely conceals the elastic wire 3, the ends 5 of the elastic wire 3, the screws 4 along with LASER weld joint 8 and the pins 12 from all the sides in normal as well as in fully stretched condition.